A Tough Summer
by iluvsiriusandlupin
Summary: Complete! It's the summer after Harry's fifth year and he ain't feeling good, there is only one person who knows how he's feeling.
1. Prologue

Hi guys this is only fanfic number 2, and totally different from my first one! It's basically about how Harry and Remus feel after OOTP. I'm sure you have all read Order of the Phoenix by now, but for all you crazy people who haven't, THERE ARE SPOILERS! Hope you like it!

*

Harry had barely left his bedroom all summer. He didn't have the energy to move. He didn't have the energy to do anything anymore. Harry had received several letters from his friends over the summer. They had frequently asked Harry to stay over and join them for the rest of the summer but Harry had so far declined all of their offers. He was afraid that they would somehow try and reassure him about the death of his godfather or ask him questions about his feelings. He couldn't face being interrogated about it all. 

For the eleventh time in a fortnight an owl swooped through Harry's open bedroom window and landed on top of Hedwig's empty cage (she was out hunting). Harry sighed and slumped off of his bed, expecting to see one of the Weasley's owls, but instead he was greeted by a large grey owl he didn't recognise. Only mildly interested, Harry took the parchment from the owl and read his letter. The handwriting seemed familiar. 

_Harry,_

_Hello, how are you? _

_I hope you are well and OK at your aunt and uncle's house. I know you don't like staying there every summer holiday, so I was wondering if you would want to join me at Grimmauld Place for the rest of the summer? I have already asked Dumbledore if you could, and he agreed that it would be safe. I will totally understand if you are not ready to face the house again, I know how you feel. But if you do want to come please reply and we can arrange a time for me to come and get you sometime tomorrow. _

_Hope to hear from you soon._

_Take care_

_Remus Lupin_

Harry mulled the letter over for a minute, thinking. He really should go and visit Lupin. Besides, he was probably the only person who knew how he, Harry, was feeling. Since Lupin had been close to Sirius as well. 

Harry replied to Lupin, feeling that a stay at Grimmauld place may be what he needed. Harry hadn't spoken a word to anyone about his feelings, but felt that he could probably open up to Lupin. There was something about him that Harry trusted, and maybe Lupin needed someone to talk to as well. 

The next evening Harry sat in his bedroom waiting for Lupin. He had eagerly packed all of his belongings into his trunk the night before and was now sitting on his bed waiting for what seemed like an eternity for the doorbell to ring. Lupin said that he was going to use his broomstick and an invisibility cloak to get to privet Drive. 

At long last Harry heard the unmistakable ring of the doorbell and the thundering of his uncle's footsteps to the font door. 

Harry dragged his trunk down to the bottom of the staircase to find the three Dursleys all looking red-faced and unspeakably scared. He squeezed between them and came face to face with Remus Lupin, who was looking slightly amused at the Dursley's faces. 

Without a word to his aunt, uncle or cousin Harry shut the door from the outside and turned back around to greet Lupin. 

"You would think they have never seen a man with a flying broomstick by the looks on their faces." Said Lupin sarcastically "It's good to see you Harry," he said, shaking Harry's hand. 

"Good to see you too," said Harry managing a smile for the first time of his six-week summer. "Sorry about them." He apologised, jerking his head towards the house

"You don't have to apologise Harry," Lupin insisted "I find it quite amusing actually!" He chuckled. "Come on, we can talk some more when we get back to the house, I'm sure you're eager to get out of here."

"Yeah I hate this place!" Agreed Harry, giving number four Privet Drive a dirty look as he mounted his broomstick and waited for Lupin to guide the way. He was going to leave the tail of his broomstick visible so that Harry could follow him. 

As Harry flew off the ground, his invisibility cloak draped over him, all of his worries were momentarily put on hold. He felt free when he was flying, as if he didn't have a care in the world.


	2. Chapter 1

Thank you to all the people who have reviewed! I really appreciate it! I don't know whether to make this a long fic or just a short one with about three chapters or so. I've already written a short version, but I think I might want to make it a bit longer. What do you guys think?

*

But as soon as Harry landed back on solid ground his thoughts came back again like a huge hit. He was there. Number twelve Grimmauld Place, Sirius's old home. This maybe wasn't such a good idea. Just looking at the house made Harry so overcome with emotion he was forced to turn away. 

"I know what you are going through." Said Lupin sadly as he watched Harry. "It took me a while to go into the house. I just couldn't face it at first."

"I … I don't know if I can go in there." Harry said weakly.

"It's ok. I sat right here for hours before even setting foot inside the house." Lupin said, pointing to the wall outside number twelve.

Harry looked gloomily at the wall and slowly sat down, he would sit there until he is ready to finally go in, but it was too soon now, Harry felt. 

Lupin smiled and said, "I'll give you some space for now."

Two hours later Harry was still sitting on the wall outside of the house. He was beginning to shiver, although it really had nothing to do with the weather and everything to do with his thoughts of Sirius. He had to go in sooner or later, Lupin might worry.   

He took a deep breath and slowly walked up to the front door. He tapped it with his wand and heard the familiar sounds of all the locks clicking. The door opened with a creak and Harry took a small step in. 

Harry took a sharp intake of breath. He expected to see the house just as it was a year ago, but it was totally different. The walls had been stripped. The floors were bare. Harry looked around for a minute. Even Mrs Black was missing, her curtain was gone and there was a huge black gauge in the wall where she used to hang. It all looked so different. 

Harry ventured downstairs to the kitchen to find Lupin sitting at a new table sipping a cup of tea. 

"Ah." Exclaimed Lupin as he looked up and saw Harry. "I thought I heard you come in. Are you ok Harry?"

"I will be." Said Harry, hearing his own voice shake as he spoke "I just need to get used to this place again."

"I stripped the first two floors of everything. I thought it would upset everybody if they came round and saw it how it used to be. It upset me. Even though he hated this house, it still reminded me of Sirius …" Lupin broke off.

Harry felt sorry for Lupin, he said sympathetically "It must had been hard for you, coming back here right after … right after it … happened." 

"It wasn't nice, but I got to work on it straight away. It was better, it kept me busy." Lupin explained. "Are you hungry at all Harry?" Harry had the feeling that Lupin didn't really feel like talking about anything close to Sirius right now. 

"No I'm … I might just go straight to bed actually." Said Harry, suddenly feeling exhausted.

"Yeah of course, I've put your things in the first bedroom on the third floor."

"Thank you," said Harry "Erm … well … goodnight."

"Goodnight."

Harry made his way up two flights of stairs. Even all of the house elf heads had gone from the walls. That reminded Harry of something, what about Kreacher?  He would ask Lupin in the morning. 

As Harry reached the top of the staircase his heart began to pump uncomfortably. It was exactly the same as he remembered, the he remembered what Lupin said; "I stripped the first two floors of everything". He must not have reached the last floor.


	3. Chapter 2

Remus Lupin could see his best friends face, laughing, even though the situation was so serious. Laughing at his cousin, laughing as if he had no worries. 

Then she hit him.

The red sparks flew towards Sirius and hit him. He fell. His body slowly disappearing behind the curtained archway. 

Harry ran. Remus caught him just in time. He was struggling, trying to reach Sirius, but he was gone. As much as Remus didn't want to believe it. Sirius _was_ gone. 

"-it's too late, Harry-"

He didn't want to believe his own words. Harry couldn't believe his words. As much as Remus told him that Sirius was gone, Harry didn't want to listen. He was still struggling against his hands, wanting to reach the archway, wanting to find Sirius. But there was no hope.

Remus could still here Harry's frightened screams.

"SIRIUS!"

Harry's screams were so clear.

"SIRIUS!"

They sounded so close, as if Harry was right here, shouting for his godfather.

"SIRIUS!"

A loud screaming awaked Remus. Harry. He really was screaming, screaming for Sirius.

Remus ran into Harry's temporary bedroom and found him entangled in his bed sheets, twisting and thrashing madly, screaming for Sirius. He grabbed hold of Harry's shoulders and held him still.

"Harry wake up!" Remus said urgently. Harry didn't wake, his forehead was sweating and he was fighting Remus's grasp. "Harry!" Remus shouted louder. 

Harry stopped moving and opened his eyes suddenly. He was breathing very hard as if he had been running. 

"W-what happened?" Asked Harry, his voice shaking.

"You were dreaming, Harry, it was all a dream." Remus assured him.

"It seemed so real…it…it always does." Harry said, feeling slightly ashamed of himself, he was always having these dreams. 

"I know," Remus said, taking his hands off of Harry's shoulders and perching on the seat next to the bed "it's ok Harry."

Harry sat up crossed legged in his bed. "No it's not ok!" Harry said in a small but furious voice, he felt so angry with himself. "These dreams need to stop!" he said, in the same voice "I have to accept what's happened."

"Acceptance doesn't just happen over night Harry, don't beat yourself up. You are not the only person who feels like this." Remus said in a kind, but stern voice.

"I…I'm sorry." Said Harry, Remus shook his head showing that it didn't matter. Harry continued; "Do you ever dream about that day? Does it haunt you too?" Harry asked in a desperate voice.

"Yes." Said Remus simply, trying to keep his voice steady. "The images of Sirius still disturb my sleep." 

"They are worse than all the dreams I have had of Voldemort put together, or that's how it feels anyway." Said Harry with an unsteady voice, his face etched with hurt and his skin pale. Remus had to turn away, the look on Harry's face made him feel so much grief. He looked around the room instead.

Finally, Harry spoke again.

"What's the time, erm…sir?"

"It's half past five Harry," said Remus glancing down at his watch "and less of the sir. I'm not your teacher anymore." He said with a grin "Just plain old Remus will be fine."

"Ok. Sorry for waking you up, I forgot to tell you about that." Harry sighed "The amount of times I have been woken up with my angry uncle looking down at me, shaking me like a rag doll and telling me to shut up."

"Don't apologise Harry, you can't help it." Said Remus shaking his head. 

"I know, but I'm still sor-sor-sorry." Harry said, managing to yawn in between words.

"You're still tired, I'll let you get some more sleep." Said Remus getting up.

"No!" Said Harry abruptly "I mean…I won't be able to get back to sleep now…I need a drink." With that Harry crawled out of his bed, walked past Remus and made his way down stairs.

Remus knew that Harry would have gone back to sleep if he didn't have them dreams. But he knew how Harry felt, if he didn't sleep, he wouldn't have to dream. It was always better to be awake whenever your dreams contained one of the most horrific moments of your life.


	4. Chapter 3

Well, I'm finally updating! I know I haven't updated for, like, ages and stuff, and I'm sorry guys! It's college. It really is and the fact that I'm currently trying to write two fanfics at once, I don't know why I am so impatient and can't just write one story at a time! But anyway, college deserves the biggest blame because it's too hectic and rubbish and I have just started sociology coursework and stuff…

Anyway enough of my ranting, I'll just write more story. Sorry again! Hope you like!

*

Remus wandered down to the kitchen some ten minutes later after quickly getting dressed and found Harry standing over the stove, a frying pan in one hand and a box of chicken's eggs in the other. He cracked one egg and put it into the pan, causing it to make a faint sizzling noise.

Remus walked over to a cupboard opposite Harry and got two mugs out of the cupboard. Harry, only just realising that Remus was there, turned round to him.

"Oh, I didn't realise you were down! I hope you don't mind me using your eggs?" He said sheepishly. 

"Of course not, they're there for eating." Remus replied, he reached for his kettle, went to the sink and started filling it with some water "Do you want a cup of tea Harry?" he asked, now tapping the kettle with his wand so that it magically boiled and steamed.

"Yes please. Do you want a fried egg sandwich with me?" Harry asked.

"Oh no thanks Harry, I think I'll just have some toast." And with that Remus pulled out two pieces of bread out of the breadbin and placed them in the toaster.

"Ok then." Said Harry, now buttering some bread, keeping one eye on his sizzling egg.

They spent a minute in silence as Harry cooked his nearly fried egg and Remus added milk to the tea and stirred it slowly, while he waited for his toast to pop up out of the toaster. Remus knew that Harry wouldn't take so much time over frying an egg normally, but concentrating on it was probably serving as a good tool for keeping his dreams of Sirius out of his head. 

Harry turned around to sit at the table with his sandwich. Remus sat down a second later and handed Harry a cup of steaming tea.

"Thanks." Said Harry between mouthfuls of egg sandwich.

"You're welcome." Remus started eating his toast. The two of them were taken into silence again as they ate their breakfast. 

Harry was the first to finish. He pulled his cup of tea towards him and blew on it to cool it down. Remus finished his toast and sipping his own cup of tea, watched Harry. He didn't know what to say to him really. What do you say to a teenager who has the most horrific parts of his life relived in dreams over and over again? He wasn't even sure if Harry really wanted to talk about it. He probably didn't.

Remus was pulled out of his thoughts and spared the trouble of thinking up something to say when Harry spoke.

"So what are we doing today Remus?" Harry asked.

"Hmm…well, I was going to do some more decorating around the house. I know it's not very exciting, but you can join me if you want." Remus suggested.

"Yeah sure. So what are we going to decorate?" 

"Well, it's just upstairs to do, so one of those rooms, they are all ready for decorating, we can just choose a room when we get up there." Replied Remus.

"Ok, well then, is it ok if I go and have a quick shower before we start?" Asked Harry. 

"Yeah of course it is. You know where the bathroom is. I put some clean towels in there for you yesterday."

"Ok thank you." Said Harry, Placing his plate and cup in the sink and leaving the kitchen to have a shower.

*

Fifteen minutes later, when Harry was clean and dressed. He and Remus went up to the top floor of the house, armed with bin bags, paints, paintbrushes and boxes.

"Ok I think we'll tackle this room first" Remus said, nodding his head towards the last door on their left "and then we can work our way through each room in order, left to right."

"Yeah." Agreed Harry as they stepped into the room. Harry had no memory of ever going in this room when he stayed at Grimmauld Place last summer. It had a double bed against the right hand wall, the mattress bare. There was a chest of drawers on the other side of the room, next to a huge wardrobe. Everything was dusty, it was evident that this room hadn't been lived in for a while. 

"Actually, maybe we should just skip this room Harry." Said Remus suddenly. "I don't know if you knew, but his was Sirius's old bedroom."

Harry's throat went tight. Now he knew why it looked like no one had been living in it. 

"No…no, I'll be ok. It's alright." Said Harry, trying to sound normal. He didn't want to sound weak. He needed to get over what happened to Sirius.

"Are you sure Harry? We don't have to-"

"No, it's ok really." Said Harry looking at Remus.

"Ok." said Remus, looking at Harry suspiciously. He knew it really wasn't ok, Harry didn't have to try and be brave around him. But he knew Harry was stubborn, he wouldn't admit defeat, and he was a Gryffindor after all. "Well, I'll see what's under this bed," Remus said, walking towards it "and you can tackle something else. Just put everything worth something in a box, all the rubbish can go in the bin liner."

Harry decided to go for the wardrobe, hoping that when he opened it, it would be empty. 


	5. Chapter 4

Hi guys sorry I haven't updated for ages! And now I'm all frustrated because my computer just deleted this whole chapter and I've had to write it all out again! Anyway, here's chapter 4, enjoy!

 *

Harry was greeted by a small "_puff" _of dust as the wardrobe door opened. And his worst fears were met. It was full. Full of clothes, shoes and a trunk. Full of everything Sirius, judging by the looks of it.

Harry coughed and stood up, grabbing all of the robes, shirts and trousers hanging there in one snatch.  

"Erm…what shall I do with Si…with these clothes?" Harry asked Remus over the other side of the room. 

"Oh…um, just put them in here, Harry." Said Remus, handing Harry a box already half full with jumpers and socks. Harry couldn't help but notice the tremble in Remus's voice. 

Harry placed the clothes into the box and sat back down on the floor again. He spotted a pair of old black shoes at the back of the wardrobe, he set them in the box with all of Sirius's clothes. He felt freezing to the bones. Harry's heart hurt.

Harry sat, staring at the bottom of the wardrobe, a there was just a trunk left. He reached out for it with shaking hands and dropped it gently on the floor in front of him and blew off the dust on the lid. It had the initials 'S.B' engraved on it, with the Hogwarts crest underneath. 

Harry opened the trunk and coughed as a new cloud of dust filled the room. He looked into the trunk to find a sea of black robes, the Gryffindor lion attached to the front of them. Harry took them out and looked at what else was hidden at the bottom of the trunk. It was scattered with old photographs. 

Harry had no idea Sirius was so sentimental. All the faces staring back at Harry were happy ones, each one laughing or smiling. And he recognised each face. Harry was looking down at the younger versions of Sirius, Remus, Peter Pettigrew and…his father. He had seen pictures of James Potter before, but it didn't stop Harry from being surprised as he stared down at his father's face. 

Harry looked at each picture, keeping the pile in his hand as he went so that he would find anything underneath all of them. It was all pictures of the Marauders. 

He picked up one last picture (Sirius as the huge black dog) and looked back down into the trunk. To Harry's surprise his eyes fell upon a small rectangle mirror. A two-way mirror that looked very familiar. 

Harry let out a huge sniff without realising that Remus was standing right behind him. 

"You've found his old school trunk!" Said Remus, sitting on the floor next to Harry as Harry hastily wiped his face dry.  "I wondered what he did with that…Oh and there's his two way mirror." He picked up the mirror in the bottom of the trunk "He and your dad used to use this for detentions." Said Remus reminiscently

"Yeah, Sirius told me they used to do that." Replied Harry.

"Hmmm…I wonder what happened to the other one…" Remus wondered out loud.

"Erm…he gave it to me." Admitted Harry "At Christmas. He told me to use it if Snape got to me."

"Oh, that does seem like the sort of thing that Sirius would've done." 

"I never used it though." Harry told him "I told myself that I would never use it if it meant Sirius rushing up to Hogwarts or something."

"Yeah I could imagine him rushing up to Hogwarts if anything ever bothered you. You saw what he was like when you told him that you had finished Occlumency with Snape."

"Exactly." Said Harry "I wasn't going to be the reason for him going back to Azkaban again."

Remus didn't say anything, but nodded and took the bunch of photographs from Harry to look at them. 

"We used to take pictures all the time while we were at school." Remus said finally "We had hundreds of them, we shared them out between each other at the end of our seventh year. You should have seen our dormitory, it was plastered with loads of pictures."

"You all look really happy in them."

"We were happy. You know the saying 'Your schooldays are the best days of your life'?"

"Yeah."

"Well whoever said that was spot on. I've never had as much fun as I had at Hogwarts." 

"Its sort of sad though…" Said Harry "when you were this age you would have never have guessed what the future was holding for you."

"It's true." Said Remus, nodding "But that's what the pictures are for, to look back on happy times. They're not meant to be sad, they are happy memories, reminding us of our past, which was very, very happy."

"Yeah, I guess it is." 

Harry felt a sudden sense of deep, deep sympathy for Remus as he looked at these pictures. All four of the Marauders were best friends, and now there was only one Marauder left, Remus. One was now an enemy, another was dead and the third followed in his footsteps and died fourteen years later. 

Harry turned to look round at Remus. "I can't even imagine what you've gone through Remus. All of your friends from Hogwarts are…gone."

Remus smiled sadly "I know. And it has literally torn me apart to see what has happened to my friends." His voice was breaking, Harry looked away "But as much as it hurts me to think that everything can't be back to the way it used to be, I have to carry on with my life." Remus looked at the floor and gulped. 

Harry didn't know what to say. His heart was aching so much. He started packing Sirius's robes back into the trunk. 

"But my life's different now." Said Remus suddenly "I have other people in my life. There's the Weasleys, Dumbledore, you. Everyone has been very good to me, and you have all become my (rather large) extended family in ways."

Harry placed the mirror back into the trunk and went to put the photos into it as Remus gave them to Harry, but Remus stopped him.

"Take them Harry, I'm sure Sirius would like you to have them."

"Don't you want them Remus?" Asked Harry.

"Oh no, I've got my own set. Go on, have them." 

*

So that's chapter 4 (finally) finished! Hope you all liked it! Please review it for me! I hope to get writing on the next chapter soon. Thanks!


	6. Chapter 5

And here's the next chapter! I hope you like it. I will probably update pretty soon, I have had the writing bug lately and can't stop!

The next few days were spent clearing upstairs. Out with the old and in with the new. Most of the things in Sirius's room (Harry refused to call it 'Sirius's old room') were removed, the old wardrobe was thrown out along with the chest of drawers. The only thing that was left in the room was the bed, which was staying, and Sirius's school trunk. Remus said it "belongs in the room". Harry had carefully placed his set of Sirius's photographs into his own trunk.

All of the other rooms, already pretty bare, didn't take long to do. And soon pretty much the whole of the house was looking less gloomy and more welcoming.

"I think we've done a good job Harry." Said Remus proudly as they sat at the kitchen table one evening, three days before the beginning of the school year. "At least this place doesn't feel so depressing now."

"Yeah, it is much better." Said Harry.

"Have you got your book list yet for school?" Remus asked.

"Yes, I got it this morning. I'm going to Diagon Alley tomorrow to get them." Harry told him.

"Right. Are you meeting Ron and Hermione there?"

"Yep."

"How are they? I haven't seen them to talk to properly for a long time." He hesitated "Are they together yet?" Remus asked, unable to stop himself from grinning.

Harry snorted. "What do you think? Of course they're not." He told Remus, smiling too "They're both far too stubborn!"

Remus chuckled. "What time are you meeting them tomorrow?"

"Late morning I think."

"OK." He stood up "Well anyway, I'm off to bed. Have a good day tomorrow ok?"

"I will thanks, night." Harry called after him as Remus climbed the stairs.

The nest morning Harry woke up and got ready to go and see Ron and Hermione. He left the house before Remus had even woken up.

He got the Knight Bus to the Leaky Cauldron and made his way to Diagon Alley.

Harry was happy to find Ron and Hermione not long after his arrival. It appeared that Hermione had dragged Ron into Florish and Blotts over forty-five minutes ago, and even though they had bought all of their schoolbooks, Hermione wouldn't leave.

"She's mental!" He told Harry as he explained why he had been in here so long. "We could have been over at Florean Fortescues eating ice cream!"

"I'll only be a minute you two!" Came Hermione's voice from behind a tall bookshelf.

"That's what you said half an hour ago!"

"Well, I promise I won't be long!"

Harry roamed around the shop to look for his schoolbooks as Hermione kept looking up titles and Ron stood around impatiently.

He managed to find all of the schoolbooks easily and while he was walking towards the counter he passed an aisle containing books on omens. He stopped and looked towards a familiar book named 'Death Omens: What To Do When You Know the Worst Is Coming'. He smiled to himself, remembering the time when he thought Sirius was bad luck, a death omen. How wrong he was.

Once Harry had paid for his books and he and Ron had managed to drag Hermione out of the shop, they went over to get some ice cream.

"So Harry, how are you. Really?" Asked Hermione compassionately.

"I'm actually ok." Said Harry truthfully "I've been talking to Lupin a lot, that's where I've been staying the past week or so."

"Oh, that's where you've been! I didn't think you would have wanted to stay at your aunt and uncles." Said Hermione.

"So what have you been doing?" Ron asked.

"Not much really, just sorting out Sirius's house. You should see it, it's totally different now." Harry told them "have you two had a good summer?"

"Yeah it's been ok, nothing much has really happened though." Ron told him.

"Are you going to meet us at King's Cross next week Harry?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, I'm going to help out Lupin for the last couple of days."

"Isn't it exciting going back to school?" Hermione asked happily "I can't wait for classes to start!" Ron rolled his eyes.

"I'm just looking forward to the Quidditch." Harry said.

"Me too!" Said Ron excitedly "I wonder who'll be captain this year?" He pondered.

The subject of Quidditch entertained Ron and Hermione for a while, as Hermione began reading one of her new books. A while later, they set of up Diagon Alley again. The visited Madam Malkins, the apothecary and Harry and Ron stood at the window of Quality Quidditch Supplies, wishing they had enough gold to buy one of everything in sight. 

Soon the day was coming to an end and Harry was soon saying goodbye to Ron and Hermione.

"We'll see you at the station!" Hermione called after him as Harry made his way to the fireplace in the Leaky Cauldron. He gave one last wave to the both of them, grabbed some floo powder and shouted "12 Grimmauld Place!" into the grate as he stepped into it.

So what did you think? I'm not sure on this chapter, maybe a bit boring? I'm not sure, but tell me what you think!


	7. Chapter 6

Harry awoke the next morning with a jolt of excitement. He was going back to Hogwarts tomorrow. Hogwarts was where he belonged. Although he didn't have such a strong feeling as before about this, ever since he had been staying at Grimmauld Place he felt as though he had made a second home. He had helped to transform it from an unwelcoming drab house, to a home, and he felt as though a piece of him belonged here.

He dressed and went downstairs to the kitchen to find Remus sitting at the table.

"Morning Harry."

"Morning."

"Looking forward to going back to school tomorrow?"

"Yes…well…sort of. I think I'm going to miss it here you know." Harry admitted.

"Really?" Remus sounded slightly shocked "I suppose it does grow on you in time."

"I never thought I'd miss this place, it's weird." Harry sighed and sat down t the table.

"You know that you are always welcome here Harry, well at least I think you are anyway. It's not exactly my house." Said Remus smiling "Sirius loved it when you were all here, so I'm sure you are always welcome."

"Yeah…" Mused Harry "Hey, do you think it would be ok if I came back at Christmas?" he asked.

"Of course! We might be able to get all the Weasleys round again, you never know." Said Remus, who sounded very pleased at the thought of having someone to celebrate Christmas with.

"Great." Said Harry happily.

Harry had a quick breakfast and went upstairs to pack his school things in his trunk, not feeling quite as happy as he normally would have. He and Remus had connected quite a bit over the past week. They each knew how the other felt about Sirius and his death, and as Harry thought about it, they were both quite similar. Both had lost most of the important people in their lives, both were different from everyone else and they even both had enemies. Harry had Voldemort and Remus had just about everyone else, judging him because of the werewolf. Harry had the feeling that he could talk to Remus about pretty much anything, he trusted him deeply.

The next day Harry was woken by Remus prodding him, telling him that he had to leave for school soon.

They caught the Knight Bus to King's Cross Station and arrived with twenty minutes to spare. They got through to platform nine and three quarters with ease and as soon as they appeared through the barrier, Harry heard someone yelling his name.

"Harry!"

"Mrs Weas-" Harry was suddenly winded when Mrs Weasley came forward and gave him a very tight hug. Ron and Hermione were standing behind her, looking rather amused.

"Oh Harry how are you dear? How are you coping?" Mrs Weasley asked, a concerned look on her face.

"I'm fine Mrs Weasley, thanks." Said Harry after catching his breath.

"Oh are you sure dear? Is he really ok Remus?" Mrs Weasley asked, turning to Remus and hugging him too.

"Well he says he's ok Molly, so I'm taking his word for it." He answered, smiling at Harry.

"I hope you are telling the truth Harry." Said Mrs Weasley, turning to Harry again "You don't want to bottle thing-"

"Mum! Leave Harry alone!" Ron told his mother, then he turned to his best friend, smiling "Sorry about her, she's been worrying about you, as you can tell."

Hermione laughed as Harry smiled "It's ok." He said, "I appreciate that you are worried about me Mrs Weasley, but I really am fine." He told Mrs Weasley, turning to her. She seemed satisfied.

"Are you getting on the train Harry?" Hermione asked him "All the others are already aboard."

"I'll be on in a minute, I'm just going to say goodbye to Remus." Harry told them. Ron and Hermione turned and walked towards the train.

"Well Harry, have a good year." Said Remus.

"I will. Thanks for having me Remus." Harry told him.

"No problem, it was nice having you."

"You've helped me a lot this past week." Harry admitted "I'm sort of dealing with Sirius's death better now."

"It's felt the same for me." Said Remus gratefully. The train horn sounded. "You'd better hurry Harry, it'll go without you!"

"Yeah I guess. Thanks again. See you at Christmas?" Harry asked.

"Definitely." Said Remus, as they hugged swiftly and Harry ran for the train door, jumped in, closed the door, and hung his head out.

"Bye!" yelled Harry as the train stared to move.

Remus waved. He saw the train leave the station and apparated as a new and powerful friendship began.

And that was the last chapter. I hope you liked my story. I'm afraid it isn't going to be a story that goes all the way through Harry's 6th year because I don't think I'm a good enough writer or have enough patience for it! So anyway, thanks for all your reviews and nice comments! Do me a favour will ya? Review me one last time?

xx


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